Puddle jumper
by mokamon
Summary: Dashing down the path leading to the street, he'd pause in front of every puddle, big or small, and jump into it, creating his own small rain shower with each bound he made. The smile on his face reached to his eyes, his cheeks red and aching from excitement, but his happiness was soaring as he let out more laughs and giggles when he made yet another leap into a puddle.


**zeloszeloszeloszeloszelooooo oos**

**this is mostly just a practice with...idk, explanations and thoughts and such. Just a bunch of different things and it's pretty choppy, more so than my writing usually is, sorry for that but this has been sitting around for probably a year? I just wanna get it done and over with and post it alREADY and show people that hey i actually am still writing stuff hooray. **

** also random head canons and a cutie patootie pairing whoops no WAIT I MEAN YAY**

* * *

**Puddle Jumper**

Zelos loved the rain.

Rain had a strange look to it. It was never quite transparent, but there was never a specific colour he could give it. When it hit the bricked streets or the pristine houses it gave off a small splash, causing a beautiful symphony of small pitters and patters whenever there was a storm.

He was always scolded (by a maid or Sebastian of course) when he left the manor in a rain storm. Always escaping without a coat or umbrella, he wanted to feel the droplets fall to his face, arms and legs. It was so fresh and clean, the cooling sensations, the jolt he experienced when dozens of water drops hit him, it all excited him.

The morning after a storm Zelos would wake early, earlier then even his father (who always left the manor the moment the birds sang their own morning song), tip-toe down the enormous hallways, hopefully without getting lost, and hop down each step on the stairs that seemed to never end.

It was almost like a secret mission to get past the few maids that were up, making their breakfast before mother and father woke. He felt so brilliant and stealth-like when he was able to get to the entrance without having gotten caught. Opening the closet door slowly - for it was always making noise, no matter how Sebastian tried to tinker with the blasted hinges - he would find his pair of leather boots and pull them out from their spot beside father's fancy shoes. (He'd always wanted to try on father's shoes, wanted to try and 'walk a mile in his shoes,' as he had heard father shout to mother one night. They must've been playing a game that night as Sebastian had told him that people often shout when they get excited playing a game.)

Quickly sitting on his bottom, he'd yanked his boots on, tiny feet flying and flailing in the air as he pulled them up. The little Chosen had made small, quiet grunts when a boot wouldn't go on straight, but instantly hushed himself, knowing he'd be in trouble if the maids in the room over heard him. With the shoe buckles done up tight, the closet door closed and no jacket on, he would race to the heavy wooden door, pulling with all his might to open it. Slipping through the crack, he'd let the door close lightly, hoping the small tap and click wasn't heard from anyone one the lower floor.

Seeing the sun over the horizon and just barely hearing the merchants on the lower levels of the city just starting to open their shops, he knew he hadn't much time. Soon father would leave the mansion, speak with him for a moment, send the boy inside, and then head off to the castle to speak with the king or Pope. (Although, sometimes when the young Chosen followed him, father would completely avoid the castle and head towards the commoner's district. The boy was too scared to follow any further, not knowing his way around that district, so he never knew if his father actually made it to his meetings with the king on time, taking such a detour.) If Zelos wanted to make the best of the morning, he had to start straight away.

There were hardly ever any other adults around and the ones that were, were only city guards, who never said anything other than good morning,' 'good afternoon,' and 'good evening'. Not even noticing the eyes of the guards following him, he would jump down the steps two at a time, eager to get to the bottom. At the last step, he would stop himself, crouch down to the ground and push himself up, leaping into the air as high as he could. Before he'd hit the ground on his way down, he'd shoot his legs out, causing a huge splash in the puddle he landed in.

Water would shoot up in all different directions, getting on his arms, caught in his hair, soaking his sleeping shirt, and falling in his boots, tickling his toes cold. A giggle would escape from him, pleased with the effect he had caused. The harsh sound he heard when he fell in the water and crashed to the ground again was music to his ears, and the feel of it running over him was so invigorating! Dashing down the path leading to the street, he'd pause in front of every puddle, big or small, and jump into it, creating his own small rain shower with each bound he made. The smile on his face reached to his eyes, his cheeks red and aching from excitement, but his happiness was soaring as he let out more laughs and giggles when he made yet another leap into a puddle.

"When did you get out here?"

His laughter stopped instantly when he heard father's voice, not surprised in the least but obviously a bit annoyed. It wasn't the first time he had been caught outside so early in the morning.

"I-... G-good morning, father..." The boy answered, quickly standing straight and facing his father.

Shaking his head, the man continued down the walkway, stopping just before his son. "Zelos, I will not be repeating this to you anymore; do not come outside only to play in dirt water. It's filthy."

"But father!" the boy protested, his eyebrows furrowed in worry. This was his special time! Where he could do something without being told he was doing it wrong! "It's fun! There's not even anyone outside, no one knows I'm doing it..."

"Irregardless, Zelos, you will stop this immediately! It's far too childish," the way his father snapped at him scared him, made him flinch and feel as small as an ant. "Go inside before your mother wakes and decides it's my fault you keep getting out."

"Mother's always upset when I'm inside though..."

The Chosen was silent for a moment, and Zelos crossed his fingers, hoping his father wasn't going to get mad again.

A loud disgruntled sigh made Zelos flinch again. "Fine. Do what you wish, but don't become sick again, understand me? I'm not having your mother shouting at me for letting you stay out here."

The little boy beamed up at his father, droplets of water still falling from his face. "Thank you, father!"

Although it rained the day they buried father, Zelos still enjoyed the rain. It was much easier to keep away from people, all the nobles who were trying to offer their condolences for his loss and church officials who were trying to force him to learn the ways of a Chosen, if he was standing in the rain.

* * *

"Mother?" He hardly even turned his head from the window when he called for her. "What is that? What's falling from the sky?"

The was no response from his mother for the longest time before he heard a heavy sigh, something that he heard often and was comfortable hearing. "It's called snow, Zelos."

His smile grew and his eyes shined when she spoke his name. She always said it so beautifully, so elegantly and royally, it was as if she wasn't even paying attention as she spoke, only to his name and how sharply she pronounced it.

"Snow..." It wasn't like rain at all. His turquoise blue eyes could see every snowflake that fell, pure and white with a solid shape to it.

"Mother?" Spinning 'round in his chair quickly, causing his hair to fly out as well, he faced his mother with a beaming smile. "Could we go out in it?"

A frown. "Why? It's freezing out."

"Oh, please, mother!" He pleaded insistently, hoping she would speak with him more, spend more time with him. "It looks so pretty! Just like you!"

A reluctant, aggravated sigh came from her as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Get your coat."

His heart soared. It soared over the moon, past the stars and whatever else lay out in the open sky. She would spend time with him? How wonderful, just the two of them, playing in this curious frozen rain!

It was almost as if he flew to her, wrapping his arms around her waist to give what may have been the largest and happiest hug he'd ever given her. "Thank you, mother! We'll play for as long as you want, okay?"

He heard that angry sigh come from her again (maybe she was more tired than he thought?), before she patted his head lightly, softly pushing him from her. "Yes, of course. Now go get your coat, before I change my mind, darling."

Darling.

He liked that nickname.

He liked hearing her say that to him on the off days that they would speak. It was so soft and fresh. Very pretty, just like mother was.

He much rather liked to hear her call him darling while they played in the snow, than to call him Zelos. Everyone called him the Chosen One, Zelos. Mother was the only one to call him darling.

It was snowing as they buried mother. Zelos had never felt colder having those words she'd last spoken to him repeat over and over with each frozen flake that fell before him.

* * *

"Zelos?"

He comes back from his reminiscing, smiling down at the blonde before him. "Yes, my sweet little angel?"

"Come on!" Colette giggles at him, taking his hand. "We still have to jump in more before we get back to your house!"

With a laugh escaping from his lips, he races after her strong pull, watching her shining blue eyes sparkle with excitement. Entwining their fingers together, they leap at the same time, crashing down and creating a splash he would have thought was a tidal wave if he were younger.

Feeling the water droplets run down his back, he shivers involuntarily, laughing along with the younger girl. Her shoes seem to have finally been soaked through, he can hardly feel his toes anymore, and he's pretty sure his pant legs are soaked as well, even her hair is damp, but it doesn't matter to either of them. They're having fun together, spending time with each other and that's all that's ever mattered; that they _can_ spend time together.

"That one was freezing!" She chirps, brushing a droplet from her cheek.

"No kidding! I think my feet are frozen now!"

"Then we should hurry!" Colette gasps, her brow furrowing a bit in worry. "You can't have your feet freeze so much that you can't walk tomorrow!"

"Good point, angel," Zelos muses playfully, putting his free hand to his chin. "We wouldn't be able to do this again tomorrow if my feet froze off, now would we?"

Another giggle from her sends his already racing heart into over drive. "Let's hit some more before that happens then!"

"Lead the way, darling~"

With the both of them laughing and giggling, hand-in-hand down the streets of the city's noble districts, jumping in each and every puddle of rain water the find, Zelos decides that rain storms, while they're happening and after, are the best. If this little girl is happy to share this childhood escape with him, nothing else matters, not the two world's at stake, not his Chosen status, not even his dealings with Cruxis and the Renegades. She's happy to dance in the rain with him, pleased and eager to share a blanket later as they sit in front of a fire, Raine (how he loves to say her name, even if she's not the one he's given his heart and soul to) berating them for being so childish and getting themselves sick.

Yes, he most certainly loves the rain.


End file.
